THE GREAT LORD BURGHLEY.*

IN Major Hume's volume we have at last an adequate biography of Lord Burghley. Biographers in search of a

subject have always, for one reason or another, passed over the most eminent figure in Elizabethan politics. Cecil was not only a great English Minister ; he belongs to a small group of European statesmen who may be named, in Roman phrase, second founders of their country. He guided England through perils which threatened national ruin, to a position which laid a secure foundation for its future greatness. Bio- graphers may have been deterred from writing his Life by the immense mass of manuscript which the statesman left behind him, which has been preserved with pious care by his descendants. The example of Dr. Nares may have

served as a warning, for the Oxford Professor was so embarrassed by the richesse of his materials that he

produced, according to Macaulay, the most unreadable book that exists in any language. But another reason has, we suspect, warned off biographers from Elizabeth's Minister. Biographers love a hero, and failing a hero, they prefer a

fascinating villain. Cecil was certainly no villain, but he falls short of the heroic standard. He was lacking in magnanimity, and, save where his country was concerned, in

disinterestedness. The immense prudence and unfailing vigi- lance which were so useful to England show to less advantage when we see them exerted for purposes of self- aggrandisement. His personal character and his aims in life were described by his own indefatigable pen in the counsels which he addressed to his favourite son, Sir Robert Cecil. We are inevitably reminded of Polonius as we read :—

"Beware thou spendest not more than three of four parts of thy revenue, and not above a third part of that in thy house. That gentleman who sells an acre of land sells an ounce of credit, for gentility is nothing else but ancient riches. Suffer not thy sons to cross the Alps, for they shall learn nothing there but pride, blasphemy, and atheism ; and if by travel they get a few broken languages, they shall profit them nothing more than to have one meal served up in divers dishes. Neither train them up in wars, for he that sets up to live by that profession can hardly be an honest man or a good Christian. Be sure to make some great man thy friend, but trouble him not with trifles; compliment him often with many, yet small gifts. Towards thy superiors be humble, yet generous ; with thine equals familiar, yet respectful ; towards thy inferiors show much humanity, and some familiarity, as to bow the body, stretch forth the hand, and to uncover the head. Trust not any man with thy life, credit, or estate, for it is mere folly for a man to enthral himself to his friend."

The man who wrote those counsels was certainly worldly

wise, and likely to prosper in the world, but not a man about whom it is possible to become very enthusiastic.

During the reign of Edward VI. Cecil enriched himself by means of grants, stewardships, and reversions of offices, and at its close he was very rich. Under Elizabeth his oppor- tunities were still greater, and he did not fail to avail himself of them. But a stronger passion than a sense of self-interest kept the latter passion in strict control. He always placed his country before himself. Major Hume writes that be received presents from suitors for office and from others, as was the custom of the age, but it is on record that he fre- quently refused such gifts when they assumed the form of bribes to influence judicial decisions. There is no proof, he adds, that he ever accepted bribes from Spain or France, although every other Counsellor of the Queen was paid by one side or the other, and sometimes by both. In the Spanish

• The Great Lord Burghley : a Study in Elizabethan Statecraft. By Martin A.

S. limn London: James Nisbet and O. 8d.]

State papers mention is made several times of the advisability of paying Cecil heavily, and sums were allotted for the purpose, but there is no evidence of his having accepted such payments, although in after years his eon certainly did.

Cecil's attitude towards religious questions looks very like that of a worldly time-server. He was the Secretary of Somerset, and under Northumberland he was Secretary of State. In those capacities he spoke and acted as a con- vinced adherent of the Reformed Faith. When Mary Tudor came to the throne, he quietly conformed, and went regularly to Mass and to confession at his parish church in Wimbledon. Dr. Nares made for him the unfortunate apology that he went to Mass "with no idolatrous intention," which provoked the retort from Macaulay that according to Dr. Nares, who was probably right, the conformity of Cecil was a piece of pure and unmixed hypocrisy. The case is not quite so bad as Dr. Nares and Macaulay represent it. We gather from his letters that Cecil was personally a religious man, who recognised the guiding hand of God in individual and national concerns. But in the controversies between Catholic and Protestant he always took a lukewarm interest, and his sympathies were with Protestantism, mainly because its success was connected with the fortunes of England. He probably conformed with as little scruple as would be felt by an English gentleman of the present day, who might, from motives of convenience, attend High Church services, although his personal predilec- tions were in favour of a less advanced Ritual. But consider- ing the part he had played during the former reign, Cecil's conduct was not that of a high-minded man ; he richly deserved the rebukes for backsliding which Knox subse- quently administered to him with such hearty good will.

It is when we turn from Cecil the man and the Churchman to Cecil the Secretary of State and the Lord High Treasurer, that his great qualities become apparent. No lover of England can well refuse a tribute of admiration and of gratitude to the great Minister who in youth, in age, in health and sickness watched over his threatened and dis- tracted country with sleepless vigilance. Never were the fortunes of England at a lower ebb than when Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne. By temperament and con- viction Cecil was a Peace-Minister. His household biographer tells us that two of his favourite maxims were : "That war is a curse, and peace the blessing of God upon a nation," and "That a realm gaineth more by one year's peace than by ten years' war." Perceiving as clearly as Henry VII. that the future greatness of England must come through commercial prosperity, he laboured unceasingly to increase its commerce, and with such good success that in 1580 the Spanish Ambassador wrote to his master that the number of English ships was so great that the English had a monopoly of shipping. He encouraged all the arts of peace ; and he reformed the currency in a manner that gave advantages to the English merchants which foreigners had formerly enjoyed. But Cecil had also to defend England against a great European conspiracy. France and Spain, encouraged by the Holy See and with the help of the Jesuits, were both bent upon humbling Englandand wiping out English Protestantism. And France, through its connection with Scotland, was in a position at any moment to deal a deadly blow. Had the enemies of England been united she could hardly have resisted the forces which would have been arrayed against her. But France and Spain were jealous of each other, and Cecil made use of this jealousy with consummate tact to the advantage of his country. The "crafty fox," as his enemies called him, employed all the arts of the conspirator to defeat conspiracy. He constantly deceived the Ambassadors of France and of Spain by false statements, and by false promises. He bribed their private secretaries that he might fathom their secrets, and on one occasion he caused the mail to be robbed that he might read the despatches of an Ambassador. Rebels in Prance, in the Netherlands, and in Scotland were encouraged by promises, helped with money, and sometimes with men. The policy of Cecil was at once aided and hindered by the Queen. Her wish to have a constant supply of suitors for her hand, but to accept none, was probably a political advantage, although Cecil, who feared France most, usually looked with favour upon the Spanish match. Bat her caprices, her attach- ment to unworthy and treacherous favourites, made her a difficult mistress. Unlike Bismarck, Cecil did not attempt to

domineer. His favourite method of persuading was to address elaborate State papers to the Queen or to the Council, in which the " pros " and " contras " of a policy were stated with a great show of impartiality. His own opinion, however, was never really concealed, but the unobtrusive manner in which it was stated enabled the Queen and Council to accept it without loss of self-respect. He always treated the Queen with profound reverence, but he never stooped to the fulsome flatteries by which the other courtiers sought to secure her favour; and she on her part showed to him a personal respect each as no other subject received at her hands. Perhaps the vaunted wisdom of the Queen consisted mainly in her clear recog- nition that in an important crisis, the path of safety for

herself and for her realm lay in following the counsels of the wise, stately Minister who stood erect in her presence

amid a crowd of flatterers.

Cecil was never popular, and the marked favour he en- joyed from his Sovereign raised up for him a crowd of bitter enemies. When his son was associated with him

they called England Regnunt Ceciliamon. He was a man of very warm family affection, but he seemed indifferent to

the affection of other people, and he made few personal friends. On the other hand, he cherished no rancour, and worked in apparent harmony with men whom he knew to be enemies plotting against him. Cecil's character and work are thus summed up by Major Hume :—

"Of Lord Burghley's place amongst great statesmen it may be sufficient to say that his gifts and qualities were exactly what were needed by the circumstances of his times. He was called upon to rule in a time of radical change, when vehement partisans on one side and the other were fiercely struggling for the mastery of their opinions. It is precisely in such times as these that the moderate, tactful, cautious man must in the end be called to decide between the extremes, and to prevent catastrophe by steering a middle course. This throughout his life was the function of William Cecil. His gifts were not of the highest, for he was not a constructive statesman or a pioneer of great causes. He often stood by and saw injustiee done by extreme men on one or the other side rather than lose his influence by appearing to favour the opposite extreme ; and, as we have seen in his own words, be was quite ready to carry out as a Minister a policy of which as a Councillor he had expressed his disapproval. This may not have been high-minded statesmanship, but at least it enabled him to keep his hand upon the helm, and sooner or later to bring the ship of the State back to his course again. Be was a man whose objects and ideals were much higher than his methods, because the latter belonged to his own age, whereas the former were based upon broad truths, and great principles, which are eternal. But it may be safely asserted that the rectitude of his mind and his great sense of personal dignity would prevent him from adopting any course for which warrant could not be found, either in the law of the land, or what he would regard as over- powering national expediency. The first cause he served was that of the State; the second was William Cecil and his house."

In the above passage Major Hume repeats the remark of Macaulay, that Cecil was not a constructive statesman. The absence of constructive statesmanship ia, however, a reproach only when the times require it. It is difficult to see in what direction Cecil could have practised the dangerous art. He might, it is true, have attempted to make himself master of Scotland, but it requires less than Cecil's prudence to perceive that such a step would have been fraught with peril, and would almost certainly ended in a crowning disaster for England.